‘Hurt Locker,’ ‘Basterds’ crack Cahiers du Cinéma list

All cinéastes know that the annual Top 10 issued by Cahiers du Cinéma is pretty much the ne plus ultra of critics’ lists. The legendary French film magazine has taste that veers from the rigorously auteurist (recent list-toppers include “Redacted,”“Tropical Malady” and “Paranoid Park”) to the frankly perverse (“Lady in the Water” made the 2006 list).

So when a comparatively mainstream Oscar frontrunner like “The Hurt Locker” crops up on this year’s Cahiers list, you know it officially taken the mantle of this year’s across-the-board critical darling.

17 responses so far

Finally, “Hadewijch” makes a list. Hope that gets theater time stateside next year, one of the best I saw at TIFF.

“Wild Grass,” on the other hand, was kinda the most overrated thing I saw at Cannes. Fun, vibrant, but pretty slight, and pales compared to, say, “Private Fears in Public Places,” which it’s very similar too.

Admittedly it takes on some weight being, in all likelihood, Resnais’s swan song.

Wow! Thats some list.
Wild Grass, Vincere & Hadewijch all got 4 out 4 from Cahiers, so they were a given.

And surprisingly, they gave both A prophet & Fish Tank only 2 stars, and The White Ribbon and Antichrist 3 stars. I knew the first 2 would miss but I was sure the last 2 were right up their alley. Also thought Wendy & Lucy might make it, it was released there this year.

The Hurt Locker is a great film, the best American film of the year, and would be an extremely worthy winner, its pretty much loved across the board. Unless Up In the Air or Avatar wreck the party.

Tetro is a surprising but good inclusion. The acting is very good, but the script is a bit naive. The cinematography is the best I’ve seen all year.

Guy, would your disdain for Inglorious Basterds be beginning to crumble, just a little bit? ;-)

basterds is looking better by the day, number 3 here, i really wish it was 5 this year right aboout now, it would be so on. I think it would end up Basterds, AVATAR, Up in the Air, The Hurt Locker, and precious

“Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl” is a gorgeous little wisp of a film. (63 minutes! I wish more auteurs were quite so restrained.) I’d be hard pressed to make quite such major claims for it myself, but I sort of love that it’s here.

Nos@ 3 and 4 over The Prophet? ahem…moving swiftly on Giovanna Mezzogiorno – gave an emotionally, wonderful performance in Vincere – why no critics prizes for her perfomance – which imho beats all the possible Oscar candidates.